


Greatness

by winterda



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Ego's thoughts, Gen, Not beta, Peter's a baby, Pre-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11455725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterda/pseuds/winterda
Summary: Ego goes to meet his newest child.





	Greatness

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly have no idea where this came from.

The birth of his children had always interested Ego. They had ever since the first one of his off-spring came into the universe. 

He didn't remember the name the mother or her species any longer. (It had been too long, and they were wiped out by some war a few thousand years ago. Or had it been a plague? Well, he could hardly be bothered to remember such things.) She'd been beautiful, he did remember that. Silver hair and lilac skin and the most interesting of her disappointing species by far, though how he couldn't quite recall. Whatever it was had interested him enough in order to enact an idea he had been playing with ever since her realized what an utter disappointment the universe outside of himself was. 

He smiled, even now, thinking of it. That there could be someone else like him – that that kind of greatness could come from him. It was a heady and beautiful thought. 

Even millenniums later, he could remember the birth of the first. He had stayed for that one, wanted to see it all the way through. His own “birth” was not much to remark on. One moment he did not exist: the next, he did. It had been a remarkable thing that no one had taken any note of, so he had naturally assumed that the rest of the universe worked in much the same manner. The Firsts culture had shown him otherwise. 

Infants of their species were thought of as gifts, and their mothers were treated with reverence as they awaited the babe's arrival. Goodmothers – the elders of the families – were in charge of protecting the new ones and making sure that they were cared. The men were expected to take up more and more of the missing females role until the only thing she had to worry with was the impending birth itself. When the time arrived, the Goodmothers helped the new mother while the rest of the family along with friends and even some random strangers celebrated the beginning of new life. As the father, he had been the only male allowed near. It was species that gave live birth, and he had watched the whole gory thing in fascination. When the child – a boy, he thinks – was placed in his arms, his mother had smiled up at the sight of them. Ego recalled the happiness he felt then; the hope that the child brought to him that he was no longer along in the universe. 

Unfortunately, the first child had turned out to be a disappointment, just like all its brothers and sisters and others that followed. However, with each new birth came new hope.

That hopefulness burned in him now as he walked out of the damp, late-March night and into the sterile, whitewashed hospital. There were few people there at this time of day. Humans, he found, were creatures who mostly preferred the warm light of day to the cool space of night. Given the hour, he expected that many of them were home asleep in their bed, which suited him fine. As a whole, he found the species to be tiresome and annoying, so the less he had to interact with the better. 

He strolled through the hallways, never bothering to spare anyone else he passed with a glance. Over the years, he'd found himself in many different hospitals on many different plants, but one rule seemed to carry over to each and ever single one of them. If you acted like you belonged, no one would bother you. There were a few here and there who would cast him a curious look, but he refused to pay them any mind. If one did ask, he had a ready-made excuse. He had yet to come across a hospital that would keep someone from seeing their own prodigy unless specifically asked by the mother. Ego made sure before he left each time after both his seeds had taken root that that would never happen. 

St. Charles was not a large city, and the hospital reflected that. He soon found himself on the maternity ward, which was hardly any different than any other ward except for the colorful “It's a Boy” or “It's a Girl” that was posted on two doors in the hallway. A quick glance at the nursery window told him that neither child that had been born that night were there, so he headed towards the room he knew his child inside.

A soft, sweet voice greeted him as he pushed opened the door. It was familiar, though tired, and was reciting a song more than singing it. It was a song that Ego only had the briefest recollection of. There were so many that his River Lily loved that it was hard to keep track of them all, but he was sure that this was one wasn't one that she had sung over and over during their time together. The words were said so softly that he could barely make them out, but he caught one or two that promised her “song” was her “gift” and it was for him. Stepping further into the room, he followed her voice and peaked around the half-drawn curtain.

Meredith was sitting up in the hospital bed. A bright, yet tired smile was on her lips as she sang to the small baby in her arms. Her entire focus was on the child's face as she gently twisted her body from side to side. There was a wonder there, as if she couldn't believe that this little creature actually existed, and awe that it was hers. Ego had seen that look more times than he could count. 

Someday, he hoped he could share in such a look. 

A quiet clearing of his throat turned her attention to him. Ego hadn't thought that the smile on his River Lily's face could be any larger, but he was wrong. The content, wondrous glow from moments before shifted into a face-splitting smile of joy upon seeing him. His concubines were always so happy to see him. It's one of the reason he chose them as he did.

“J'son,” she breathed, “you came.”

“I promised you I would,” he said.

She held out her hand to him and pulled him closer as she turned her own attention back down to the baby in her arms. 

“What have you made for me, my River Lily?” he asked as he sat down next to her.

The baby wasn't much to look at, honestly. They rarely were anything impressive in his experience. There had been some that he could truly say were beautiful when they were born, but those were few and far between. Human children, however, had a particular ugliness to them. Its face was squished and somewhat flat at the same time. Its head was an odd shape, and the skin was more translucent than Ego expected. He wondered if that was normal for a newborn human but had nothing to compare it to. 

Maybe he should check in on the other infant before he left, just to see.

“Isn't he perfect?” Meredith asked, still completely entranced with the baby in her arms.

No matter what his own thoughts were, Ego knew the answer to this question.

“He's beautiful,” he said as he placed a kiss on her head. “Just like his mother.”

“My little Star-Lord,” she whispered more to herself than to him. She then turned and smiled up at him. “Just like his daddy.”

Ego smiled at her simple understanding of what he was. She often referred to him just as “a spaceman” and was content enough to leave it at that. Ego had tried to explain it to her, what he really was and what it meant; but she just laughed at him and claimed that there was only one god, and his name was spelled with a big “G.” She settled on the idea that he must be a ruler of some kind. A lord of a galaxy or two. Hence the nickname she had settled on for the baby. She truly had no idea what he really was or what her son could be. Her innocence was one of the things that he love most about her.

“Is that what your calling him?” he asked. “Star-Lord Quill?”

Ego didn't claim to know a lot about human names, but he was fairly certain that that one would be considered odd. His own alias drew enough odd looks – that was the last time he got one from a kid's name tag at a restaurant with bad lighting – so he could imagine the kind of attention that a name like Star-Lord would attract. Attention that he certainly didn't want on his prodigy.

Meredith, however, laughed and shook her head.

“Don't be silly,” she said. “His name is Peter. Peter Jason Quill.”

Peter Jason Quill. Ego let the name ring swirl around in his mind for a moment before he let it settle. It wasn't an overly interesting name or memorable one. Nothing that suggested greatness in his future, which did not seem like a very good sign to Ego. However, he didn't see anything now about the baby that did suggest greatness. It was very likely that he would be just another disappointment in a long line of them. No reason to try and set something up otherwise.

“I think it suits him,” Ego said.

Meredith beamed at him before turning back to her son.

“See, Peter,” she said to the baby. “I told you your daddy would like it.”

Ego wouldn't go that far, but he'd let it go.

“And someday,” she went on, “you'll join him up in the stars. Just like I promised.”

This time, Ego did smile.

“That he will,” he agreed. 

He placed another kiss against her temple. She didn't seem to notice the slight whisper of light that passed from him to her in that moment, and Ego was glad of it. He would be leaving her soon enough, and he didn't want to leave her with a lie of any sort. He would be back for their son someday. 

She just wouldn't live to see it.

\------------------------ 

Years later, when Meredith Quill's grown son stood before him and called for the light for the first time, Ego remembered the first time he meet Peter and the look of wonder that had been on his mother's face. When that spark of light flickered between his son's hands, he finally understood it.

This child was his hope. 

And together, they would do great, great things.


End file.
